Vernestra Rwoh barely saw any action during the events of The Acolyte, the latest of the Disney+ subscription-exclusive Star Wars TV shows, with her scenes mainly being comprised of speaking with Sol and following up on her fellow Jedi Master’s investigations into the killings carried out by Mae. However, Rebecca Henderson’s character did get a brief moment to show off her combat skills in “Teach / Corrupt” when she broke out her lightsaber whip, a.k.a. lightwhip, to cut down an umbramoth on Brendok that was going to attack her. This is the first time this kind of lightsaber has been shown in live-action, and director Hanelle M. Culpepper went over with CinemaBlend what it was like to shoot a scene with this unique Star Wars weapon.
Because Vernestra Rwoh is the sole character in The Acolyte whose already appeared in literature set during The High Republic era, her lightsaber whip had already seen plenty of use within various books and comic book series. But it’s one thing to describe or illustrate this weapon, it’s another thing to show it on screen. When I asked Culpepper if anything special was done to shoot the lightsaber whip scene compared to an average lightsaber sequence, she answered:
Well yes, you have to make sure you frame for enough space so that you can actually see the whip… The lightsaber has just the hilt and there's a little bit of on camera stuff happening to switch out the hilt for the piece that has the actual lightsaber extension on it. And I remember a couple of takes, we were framed for it and it was fine. I was like, ‘Oh, but wait a minute, I need to see the whip.’ So we needed to get much wider. So that's the one thing to try to remember. And I also believe that, and Rebecca could probably speak to this, is that there's a little bit of a different move for your hand. It's still what's canon for a lightsaber, but there's a little bit more of a wrist twist when you're actually making the whip come out.
While Vernestra Rwoh started out using a standard lightsaber when she became a Jedi, she learned how to modify her weapon into having an addition lightwhip mode. Using a lightsaber is hard enough, but using a lightwhip requires one to be even more careful given the blade’s elastic form. Although lightwhips don’t have as much cutting power as a lightsaber, they do allow the user to entangle opponents. It’s a testament to Vernestra’s skills that she’s so effective with this weapon.
Behind the scenes though, Hanelle M. Culpepper and her team needed to make the appropriate adjustments to ensure that the lightsaber whip could be shown in all its glory. That required framing the scene a little differently than if Vernestra had been using a regular lightsaber, and on Rebecca Henderson’s part, she had to get that wrist twist just right in order to properly show the weapon being activated. If The Acolyte Season 2 is ordered, hopefully fans will get to see her wield the lightwhip multiple times, and maybe even another Jedi could be shown using their own lightwhip. After all, just because they’re uncommon in the Jedi Order doesn’t mean Vernestra is the only person who has one.
Keep your eyes peeled on CinemaBlend for more updates on The Acolyte’s future and news on other upcoming Star Wars TV shows. You can also use our 2024 TV schedule to see what programming set outside of a galaxy far, far away is coming up.
